Tre Johnson and the Texas Longhorns will play the Xavier Musketeers during the first week of March Madness. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
The Xavier Musketeers will meet the Texas Longhorns during the First Four of the 2025 NCAA men’s basketball tournament tonight, marking the fourth time the two teams have met during March Madness since 1990. Tip-off is at 9:10 p.m. ET in Dayton, Ohio. The winner will advance to play Illinois in the first round of the Midwest Region in Milwaukee on Friday. Here’s what you need to know about how to tune in to the Xavier vs. Texas game when it airs tonight.
Date: Wednesday, March 19
Time: 9:10 p.m. ET (approx. time)
Location: Dayton, Ohio
TV channel: truTV
Streaming: Max, DirecTV, Sling, Hulu with Live TV
You can tune into the Xavier vs. Texas First Four game on truTV, which is available on platforms like DirecTV, Sling, and Hulu with Live TV. The game will also be streaming on Max.
All times Eastern
Tuesday, March 18
Alabama State vs. St. Francis, 6:40 p.m. (truTV, Max)
North Carolina vs. San Diego State, 9:10 p.m. (truTV, Max)
Wednesday, March 19
Mount St. Mary’s vs. American, 6:40 p.m. (truTV, Max)
Xavier vs. Texas, 9:10 p.m. (truTV, Max)
NCAA March Madness basketball games will be broadcast across CBS Sports and TNT Sports channels, including CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV, with CBS games also streaming on Paramount+ and TNT/TBS/truTV games streaming on Max. These channels are also available on platforms including DirecTV, Hulu with Live TV and Sling. (Note that while we typically love Fubo for sports, it does not carry TNT, TBS and truTV, which is where you’ll find a majority of March Madness games.)
Paramount+ has two tiers available: an $8/month ad-supported tier and a $13/month premium tier that’s ad-free and includes live access to your local CBS channel (and access to Showtime), which you’ll need to stream select March Madness games.
Right now, Paramount+ is still offering a free trial — so new subscribers could sign up to watch Selection Sunday and the First Four, plus check out the rest of the Paramount+ library free for seven days.
Max, aka “the one to watch,” has select live sports available through its Bleacher Report Sports add-on, which is included free of charge for ad-free Max subscribers. (If you subscribe to Max’s ad-supported plan, you should be able to access the B/R add-on content until March 30).
On top of March Madness games on TBS, TNT and TruTV, Max has buzzy shows including The White Lotus, The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, Dune: Prophecy and more.
Ad-supported Max starts at $10/month. The standard plan (which includes B/R Sports free of charge) costs $17/month.
Sling doesn’t offer a free trial these days, and March Madness lasts longer than your standard trial would. It’s still a solid option to catch most games in the tournament. Emphasis on most, because one big blindspot for Sling is that it doesn’t carry CBS.
That said, for $45 for your first month of Sling Orange + Blue and the Sports Extra add-on, you can catch all the games on TBS, TNT, TruTV, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPNews and ABC.
$48 for your first month at Sling
